Ever since the 31st roster addition in Overwatch, Sigma, arrived in the shooter, the meta-game has been a bit set in its ways. It’s understandable that players want to play their favorite heroes, but Blizzard needs to shake things up from time to time, and that is exactly what the developer is doing with the 1.41 patch this week. The newest patch is of course coming to the PTR first, to give players time to experiment and suss out the new meta. It will also allow Blizzard time to collect feedback and make adjustments to the changes where needed.
Out of the 31 heroes on the roster, 13 are getting some kind of adjustment. This in total accounts for roughly half of the overall roster by the way. All in all it’s going to be a pretty pronounced shakeup of the meta-game. Overall, the changes are all over the place, bringing a ton of tweaks to timing, damage and ammo counts of different abilities. For example, D.Va’s Defense Matrix regeneration delay has been slightly reduced by just 0.25 seconds, and all of the changes are like that. And if you want to just see the big changes to each hero, we’ve got your back.
Sigma’s been nerfed, along with a bunch of other heroes like Orisa, Baptiste, Doomfist, Moira, and Symmetra. All of these make it looks like Blizzard wants players to be more aggressive rather than relying on the strong defensive nature of the current meta to minimize risk in matches. Combine this with the fact that Lúcio, D.Va, Mercy, Winston, Roadhog, and Tracer have been buffed, and you get a meta for this cycle that should result in more mobile playstyles coming to the forefront.
Here is the entire list of all the changes coming to the heroes during the PTR patch, courtesy of Blizzard:
D.Va
Defense Matrix
- Regeneration rate increased from 12.5% to 16% per second
- Delay before regeneration begins lowered from 1 second to 0.75 seconds
Orisa
Protective Barrier
- Cooldown increased from 9 to 10 seconds
Roadhog
Scrap Gun
- Ammunition increased from 5 to 6.
Sigma
Kinetic Grasp
- No longer blocks Chain Hook and Whip Shot
Gravitic Flux
- High gravity effect duration reduced from 1.2 to 0.9 seconds
Experimental Barrier
- Regeneration rate reduced from 175 to 150 per second
- Now has a 1 second cooldown after recalling the barrier
- Initial 0.2 second cast time removed
Winston
Barrier Projector
- Duration increased from 6 to 9 seconds
- Health increased from 600 to 700
Baptiste
Immortality Field
- Health decreased from 250 to 200
Lucio
Crossfade
- Speed boost’s effect increased from 20% to 25%
Amp It Up
- Speed boost’s amplification increased from 50% to 60%
Wall Ride
- Speed buff reduced from 40% to 30%
Mercy
Valkyrie
- The extra beams created by Valkyrie now ignore enemy barriers
Moira
Biotic Grasp
- Self-healing reduced from 30 to 20 health per second
Doomfist
Rocket Punch
- Time to reach max charge increased from 1 to 1.4 seconds
The Best Defense…
- Shield health gained per hit reduced from 35 to 30
Sombra
Translocator
- Cooldown increased from 4 to 6 seconds
- Cooldown now begins immediately upon deploying the beacon or if it is killed by an enemy
Symmetra
Photon Barrier
- Duration reduced from 15 to 12 seconds
- Health reduced from 5000 to 4000
Sentry Turret
- Damage per second reduced from 50 to 40
Photon Projector
- Players impacted by the primary fire beam should now hear a louder impact sound
Tracer
Pulse Pistols
- Damage falloff now starts at 13 meters, up from 10 meters
The Overwatch 1.41 patch also brings some bug fixes to the game. For the entire list of changes, check out the official announcement at the Blizzard forums. The Overwatch 1.41 patch is now live on the PTR, so jump in and give it a whirl. Overwatch is out now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and a Nintendo Switch port is coming next month.
